The government is considering writing off municipal service debts owed by pensioners and persons with disabilities. This is part of efforts to address growing arrears owed to local authorities.

The announcement was made by the Minister of Urban and Rural Development (MURD), James Sankwasa, during the induction of the Regional Council and Local Authorities at Mariental.

Sankwasa explained that some of the arrears accumulated are linked to political campaigns where residents were allegedly encouraged not to pay for services such as water and electricity in order to influence election outcomes.

"You cannot tell them to pay because you told them they're not going to pay. Now bills are rising, and now you get out; you leave these bills, and when the water or electricity is cut off, it is the citizens that suffer, not you. Because you have the wrong political agenda, because of the wrong campaigns. We cannot continue with the wrong politics, and we must differentiate between politics and governance."

Sankwasa stressed political campaigns must be separated from governance, saying elected leaders must take responsibility for ensuring sustainable service delivery once in office.

Some of the outstanding bills are also linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the government instructed municipalities not to suspend water or other essential services.

Local authorities have now been directed to submit municipal accounts belonging to pensioners and persons with disabilities to the ministry before the end of this month.
Once that is done, the accounts will be assessed based on the age of the debt.